I planned and bought a ticket about 3 months before F1 Hungarian GP, with some adjustment and major changes in THE plan which I wont explain here. Hostel was booked, two-way ticket to Budapest, Hungarorings tickets waiting at Hungaroring to be picked up. Everything was ready.
After lots of frustration with public transport - and desinformation, getting on the wrong train and going to different part of belgrade instead of new main station(one of three). Waiting 1 hour and missing the scheduled time of train departure. Somehow Serbian Railways are great when you are so late to get somewhere - cause they will always be later than you, that is just how it works; so, after waiting 70 more minutes at the station to board the train, everything was cool - until the border and troubles with Hungarian border control (
Day 0 - Public Pit Walk
I arrived to Budapest around 8am went to the hostel, left my things - check in was at 2pm; but the things on the race track were starting around 3pm so I decided to check in when I come back from the track.
Slightly confused where to go, where to get the ticket and everything, marching to track with thousands of people all around you for the same thing - the only thing is follow the ones in front.
As we stepped on the track, and arrived near the pit entrance I saw the mass going crazy on the other end and guess what - Seb was giving autograms. Immediately I went over there but it was too late to catch the Seb but my priority was, of course, Iceman.
After getting some autograms from all the F1 Heroes and crashheads too I headed into the pit. At the entrance we saw few very popular Mercedes cars.
In the pits it was so crowded for a simple reason. People will always be rude and try to exploit on something for whatever reason. Pit walk is designed to enter and walk through it, with occasional stops in front of garages, but not to fucking camp in front of Ferrari and Mercedes garage... As soon as I passed these two there was no crowd at all, near pinky Force India Canada, or Renault and Sauber... But without them racing would be dead in F1, basically Merc and Ferrari are everything but racing. Mid field is where action happens, at least on track.
Here are some photos of wings and other stuff.
That night in the hostel I realized one thing - I didn't mind the Halo protection, nor how it looks like on the car. I guess with all the excitement and joy you just forget this stuff + you don't have onboard view on the track. :)
Day 1 - Practice sessions
Waking up at 8am, catching a bus to Hungaroring which is about 20km from Budapest, 40minutes of morning walk and we are on the track. With general admission you can walk around the track, and you have access to half of the track - from chicane 6/7 to distant view of final turn(14),pit entry and main straight. Basically I went to the closest gate to the bus stop and the least crowded one. Entering the chicane part.
With the schorching Sun and without sun protection I knew this will be one hell of a day. Well, I couldn't care less, as soon as the engines roared and cars were on track all the heat was transfared there.
After about 45 minutes I decided to move on from the chicane and explore the other parts of track. So the next stop was turn 8 and 9. which was pretty nice, since the cars go so slow on this part of the track and you can see their full beauty in motion, and how they sway from left to right to hit the apex, and then crack up their engine sound. The only thing that was annoying was the fence. and that you basically can't get nice shots except from few places(or climbing the trees).
Here you can see(through the fence) how one of the HAAS cars is swaying left and right.
Next stop was a valley with lots of trees and shade around. Perfect spot to enjoy F1 with temperature reaching 30 degrees before noon.
As soon as we found our spot in the shade, and I found a nice highground for taking photos without fence, Hulkenberg's car broke down, and I managed to get a snap of it while it was moved around the track.
With 15 minutes to the end of the first practice session, I changed the place once again, turn 10. with so many marbles off the racing line.
Basically nothing much happened on the track, Vettel topped the FP1. We had a small break until FP2; but there is so much action of the track and guess what - we were offered some free Johnnie Walker cocktails (more than once when you erase a stamp from your hand) But we also got the big glass with 50% discount.
In the F1 Fanzone you could play some games; drive a simulator, compete in pit stop challenge(if you have a team of 3) and do a quick reaction challenge. And I can tell you time flies off the track too, and fans were great with all the flags, quotes from the champions - and this one caught my attention.
FP 2 started and I decided(mostly because it was 3pm and the heat was devastating) to watch the entire session from the valley.
Near the end of practice clouds covered the Sun and the chilly wind started blowing, there was a bit of panic amongst the crowd, but not too much. It was actually a small hint of what is prepared for tomorrow. Logically all the cars were sent out on track for a race simulation, and here is a videoof bunch of cars buzzing around and a really nice close up of Kimster.
Vettel topped FP2 too.
Basically the day was done - regarding F1 at least. I stayed a bit more on the track and watched other practices, and headed back to hostel.
Day 2 - FP3 and Qualyfing
Again, waking up early - checking everything in a hurry and heading to the track, morning walk and as you near the racetrack you can hear the GP3 engines roaring in the distance.
During FP3 most of the teams focused on a single lap speed and qualifying simulations. And I decided to really enjoy this session; so took only few photos, here is the photo of Esteban Ocon.
During the pause there was some action on the track, Porsche supercup qualifying but you could read that in my previous posts. We decided to get a beer and take our spot for the qualifying session which was nearing.
And you know what else was nearing? Dark clouds. They covered the sky, wind was pretty strong, and few drops started just before the qualy sessions.
All teams started on inters, and after one or two laps they pitted for the ultrasofts. During the qualies, everyone pushed hard and in the breaking zones you could see sparks flying.
Just before Q2 thunderstorm came in, but no one mind the pouring rain - you could hear some wows and screams everytime the thunder struck. I have a video of the thunder while the cars are passing - but the quality is lost when uploaded... and since it happens so fast it disappears - anyway it was magical. :D
All of a sudden I saw yellow flags waving, grabbed my camera and ran to the turn 8/9 to see the crash - but unlucky for me Stroll managed to get out of the grass with a broken front wing and head to the pits. I just caught with the corner of my eye how marshall throws his front wing over the fence.
On the race track you don't have all the info (in case you don't have internet and F1 app which I don't). Cars buzzing around, and what I managed to hear - Kimi was first until the last lap - he didn't get to improve the lap times due to poor visibility and stacking behind one of the Haas. So Hamilton snatched another pole with another great lap on the track in very tricky conditions.
F1 was done for today. But once again we stayed for all the races until the end of the day. With tricky conditions the start of F2 race promised some carnage. But as we all know nowadays racing on the wet is kinda forbidden - so it all started with the safety car until the racing line is dried enough. But at least I managed to get a nice shot of it.
And carnage it was, small but still I judged the nice spot to go for a view - you can see the restart of the race on one of my previous posts of F1 weekend. Here is a photo of car going over the grass(not Hamilton and Max in Mexico :)).
During the race I wanted to inspect what is the best position to watch the race from - see some overtaking and stuff; sadly there are no much overtaking in F1, I saw few overtakes in turn 8 and 9 (F2) but F1 is all about closing the gap under the DRS. I hope that new rules will change this - even tho I liked some battles in the last two years.
How to enjoy F2 racing to the max?
One last spot to check out was look at the pit entrance, final turn and part of the main straight, GP3 was finishing - very nice race, and you know what? I really like this shot. It lasts for about half an hour and we headed back to hostel. Happy with everything that happened during that day.
Day 3 - Race day!
The race is about to start. Our plan was to find a place near the main straight and final turn, but... people were camping there since the gates opened. So we found our spot near turn 10.
The atmosphere was excellent. Heat was devastating - 34 degrees and no shade.
While waiting for a race to start, marshalls did some funny stuff - and also made a barbecue in a drain system will be more about it in the posts to come.
Drivers truck parade and few promotion laps before going out for the grid and formation lap. Time for the start of race was closing up less than 20mins.
First lap impatiance and drama. You are waiting in the breaking zone, and you have no idea how it started... and just waiting to see what happened, no yellow flags nor SC means thre was no crash in turn one. Here is a video of cars going into turn 10 and near the end is Lecler's contact after which he will retire his car from the race.
Soon after the start, Max's engine broke and virtual safety car was proclaimed.
After the pit stops and during the closing stages of the race I went back to the complex 8-9 to grab some shade too. People, mysef included were pouring water over their heads, cold beer, and umbrellas to whitstand the heat... While drivers were driving about 300km/h for more than one and a half hour. Later I found out... Kimi didn't have a drink in his car for the whole race... Well these are some gladiators! Massive respect for the things you all do once again.
Here are some photos from the race and interesting moments. Kimi closing up to Bottas and Vettel in front; Sainz ignoring 13 blue flags... , Hartley <3 :), Bottas with elbows out. Ricciardo and the winner - Hamilton.
I was late for podium, but we could see parked cars and so many people rushing on the tracks to cheer for winners and hear the Toreador from Carmen and national anthems.
After which I headed back to the bus station and another dream weekend has come to an end.
All in all - amazing experience, and hopefully next looking for next race in Melbourne 2019 with new aero package and rules!